machete

What it means

1. A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.

   Near-synonyms: (all sometimes or regionally synonymous) bolo, golok, panga, parang, sundang

   1 more example

   It breaks loose one rope at a time, haphazardly, tossing the Filipinos up into the air. A boy with a machete cuts the one remaining line, which pops up and lashes him across the face.

   1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 384

   Synonyms: bolo, golok, panga, parang, sundang

2. A small stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal, having a double bulged body, traditionally of wood, with a small rib and four metallic strings, sometimes attached by wooden pegs.

In a sentence

Near-synonyms: (all sometimes or regionally synonymous) bolo, golok, panga, parang, sundang

Where it comes from

1. Latinmattea
2. Spanishmachete
3. Englishmachete

From Spanish machete, diminutive of macho (“sledgehammer”), from Latin mattea, possibly from mactare (“slaughter in sacrifice”); cognate with Old French machier, French massue, English mace.